Wagon-tongue support



No. 6|6,050. I Patented Dec. l3, I898. B. C. ARMSTRONG. WAGON TONGUE SUPPORT. (Application filed Jun; 80, 1898.) '(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

ZARNET O. ARMSTRONG, OF BURLINGTON, IOWA.

WAGON-TONGUE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,050, dated December 13, I898.

Application filed June 30, 1898. Serial No. 684,896. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BARNET O. ARMSTRONG, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Burlington, Des Moines county, Iowa, have invented a new and useful Wagon- Tongue Support, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to provide an improved, sim ple, strong, durable, and adjustable wagontongue support that can be readily applied to a wagon by a person of ordinary skill and easily regulated, as required, to retain the front end of the tongue at different points of elevation to suit horses of different sizes that may be hitched thereto at different times and as required to prevent the weight of the tongue from bearing on the necks of the horses.

I-Ieretofore' various devices have been used to support a tongue at difierent angles relative to a wagon; but in no instance has a device been fixed to a tongue that is adapted for engaging the ends of the links of a chain in such a manner that the chain can be readily adjusted relative to the wagon-tongue by seizing the free end of the chain as a handhold for regulating its length between the tongue and the wagon in the manner contemplated by my invention by simply removing one link of the chain from an open slot in the fixed chain-fastening device on the tongue and inserting another link.

The drawing is a side view of the front portion of a farm-Wagon.

My invention consists in the combination of a coiled spring, a chain, and a chain-fastening device with the front bolster or axle of a wagon and a tongue pivotally connected with the rounds, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of a portion of a wagon to which my invention is applied as required for practical use, and in which The letter A designates the front axle, and B the bolster on top of the axle.

C is the tongue pivotally connected with the hounds D.

F is a coupling-spring connected at its rear end with the bolster or sand-board by means of a U -shaped bolt or in any suitable way, and

H is a chain attached to the front end of the spring.

tion of the front end of the tongue relative to horses hitched thereto. The chain-links are straight and wider than the slot in the bifurcated upright end of the fixed metal plate J, and when a link is placed in the slot, as shown, the end of the link in front of the slotted part of the plate Will be in right-angled position to the link in the slot and will prevent the chain from slipping through the slot, and the free end of the chainwill depend so it can be advantageously seized by hand for lifting the link in the bifurcated end of the fixed device J and adjusting the chain relative thereto as required to support the tongue at dilferent points of elevation.

To raise orlower the front end of the tongue, it is only necessary to adjust the chain H in the bifurcated end of the plate J by lifting the link that is in the slot and placing another link therein. The spring-coupling F is thus made to hold up the tongue at any angle desired and will at the same time allow a restricted vertical motion to the tongue, as required to prevent concussion or striking of the horses when the wagon is advanced over a rough road.

Having thus described the construction,

application, and operation of my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An improved tongue-support for wagons comprising a metal plate J having one end bent at right angles and bifurcated and the plate fixed upon the top and rear end portion of a tongue, a coiled spring connected With the bolster and a chain consisting'of straight flat links connected with the spring and adapted to be adj ustably connected with the bifurcated end of said fixed plate on the tongue, arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.

BARNET O. ARMSTRONG.

Witnesses:

O. A. STUTSMAN, R. M. GREEN. 

